A Great Portrait by Michael Leyba

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What makes a great portrait? There are many things that contribute, but here are some important indicators.

Tone of the photograph. What is the mood? Is it easily determined by looking at the subject. Does it enhance the subject? For instance, if the subject is dark, does it bring up interesting questions like what is going on here. If the subject is light, does it still bring up questions on why the subject is there and what is happening or happened. Think about the Mona Lisa. It is the most famous portrait of all time. There is a mystery to Mona’s slight smile. People do not know her or understand why she was posing. There are hills in the back probably near Florence, Italy, but people don’t know why she was there other than to have her portrait painted.
Focus of the photograph. What is the primary focus? Are you led to the subject? Does the subject hold your attention. Going back to the Mona Lisa. Our focus is the subject, Mona and she can keep our attention if we look at the details of the painting.
Depth of the photograph. Is there a foreground, middle ground, and background? There doesn’t have to be all three, but does the portrait have a three dimensional quality? The depth of field represented by the portrait helps keep our eye on the most important part; usually, the middle ground. The foreground leads into the middle ground and the background frames the subject.
Lighting in the photograph. What lighting is there in the portrait? Is there a background light, hair light, accent lights, main light and fill light? All these lights add dimension and interest to the portrait. Skillfully placed these light shape the contours of the face with highlights and shadows. Rembrandt skillfully used lighting in his portraits. One characteristic of his lighting was to place the subject at a 45 degree angle from the light source with the light source being higher than the subject. The light hit’s the subject so that there is a shadow on the opposite side of the nose that touches the lip. Another characteristic may be a triangle hightlight on the cheek opposite the light.
Color in the portrait. There should be color that adds to the portrait. Even in the case of black and white. Sometimes there are tones added to portraits to give different effects. What is the color, hue, and saturation of the photograph. Andy Warhol painted portraits with vibrant colors as did Peter Max. Part of what makes their portraits special is the use of color. Warhol did this often in series using the same subject, but with different color.
Contrast in the portrait. Artists use contrast to give attention or take it away from highlights and shadows. Contrast adds dimension to the portrait. Sometimes mood will be enhanced by taking away the contrast and this works with subjects surrounded by fog or dark areas. Gertrude Kasebier photographs seem to display this lack of contrast that makes her work obvious to the viewer.
Composition in the portrait. How balanced does the subject look? Are they in the center of the frame or do they follow the rule of thirds? Do they have balance with other objects in the photograph?
Viewpoint in the portrait. Where is the subject looking? The more intimate portraits will show the subject looking into the artist’s eye or lens. A subject may look away from the artist or lens, but it makes the portrait seem more distant in relationship.

These are some of the things I think makes a great portrait. What do you think? Please reply to this blog. Thanks for listening,

Michael

Michael Leyba
Portraits by Michael
http://www.michaelleyba.com

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